Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Puttu is my all time favorite. Aval Puttu is a delicious snack and is used to prepare in functions & festivals prepared as a neivedhyam .Rice Puttuis quite a long process. But Aval Puttu, is a simpler version and just as tasty as the rice puttu.

Ingredients:

Poha/Aval-1/2 cup

Jaggery-1/2 cup

Grated Coconut-1/2 cup

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Cardamom powder-1/4 tsp

4-5 Cashews

2 tsp Ghee

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry the poha for 1-2 minutes until turns to light brown color.

2. Grind the poha into coarse powder.

3. Heat the water with salt & turmeric till it becomes lukewarm.

4. Sprinkle this little by little, to the roasted flour & mix well till it resembles fine bread crumbs.( The rice flour should be wet enough to hold together when you try making a fist with it and dry enough to break apart at a simple knock with the thumb. It shouldn’t be clumpy or too powdery. Keep breaking it with the hand as you mix. The amount of water varies with the kind of rice flour used. So keep adding in small quantities.)

5. Mix well with hands without any lumps. 6. Now, in a deep pan pour 50 ml water and put crushed jaggery and when it melts filter it.Make syrup out of it.

7. The syrup should become thick enough, so that when you add a drop of it in a vessel of water, it should solidify immediately. (When a drop of the jaggery syrup is dropped in cold water, you should be able to form it into a ball. When you reach this consistency switch of the stove and remove the vessel from the stove.)

8.Pour the syrup little by little onto the steamed poha Mix well with a light hand

9.Heat the ghee in a pan, roast the coconut and cashews until turns to light brown color.

10.Add the roasted coconut, cashews with cardamom powder to the poha and stir well.

11.The 'puttu' is ready and it must be like 'dry sand' after adding the jaggery. Allow to cool & then serve.

Friday, October 7, 2011

I recently came across a braided bread recipe which captivated my mind; After looking at this beautiful bread in a couple of blogs, I wanted to try one on my own. It is very easy to prepare and very delightful to look and the fillings making the bread more scrumptious. When done, remove from the oven and brush with butter if desired. These can be enjoyed warm and in fact should be enjoyed when warm. They taste great when cold too. The left over’s can be warmed up in the oven and served warm.Mix and match from a couple of recipes.And here comes my version.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour-2 cups

Yeast-1 tbsp

Sugar-- 1/2 tbsp

Salt - 3/4 tsp

Warm milk -3/4 cup

For the filling:

Potatoes-2 large boiled, peeled and cubed

Green peas-1/4 cup

Oil - 2 tbsp

Tomatoes – 2 finely chopped

Green chillies - 4,5 finely chopped

Onion - 1 finely chopped

Cheese- 1 1/2 cup grated ( instead of paneer I used Cheese)

Cumin seeds- 1tsp

Coriander powder -. 1tsp

Garam masala-1tsp

Salt. to taste

Turmeric-. 1/2 tsp

Red chili powder .- 1/2 or to taste

Coriander leaves, finely chopped - 2 tbsp

(add different vegetables as per your choice)

For Filling:

1. Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Add in the cumin,seeds. Let them splutter.

4. Apply oil over the dough and cover with a wet kitchen towel and place it in a warm place. Let the dough rise to double its size, about 1 hour.

5. Gently deflate the dough and knead for a minute. Roll the bread dough to a rectangle 1 cm thick.

6.Divide it into 3 imaginary parts along the wider side.. Make slanting cuts on either side at equal distance

7. Spread the filling and cheese on the center one third. Cut 1” wide strips on either side of the filling.

8. Make sure there is the same number of strips on each side of the filling. Leaving the end closest to the filling attached. "Braid" the strips up over the filling, tucking in loose ends and wrapping the final piece or two under the bread. Let it rise again, about half an hour.

9. Brush the top with milk & bake at 180 deg for 15 mts or so till top turns golden brown.